Out of Control
by Elphiefied
Summary: Elphaba loses control of her magic at the Lurinemas Ball after an argument with Nessarose, can Fiyero and Glinda help? fiyeraba/gelphie friendship. might change with updates, not sure how long it will be. multi chapters. rated T as i'm paranoid.
1. The makeover

**Hey, this is my first fanfiction so please read and review and basically give me any ideas, hints, tips, criticism that could help the story be better, or help me write better. Sorry for the terrible summary, I never know what to put in things like that... :/**

**Unfortunately I have no claim to WICKED or anything, I just thought I'd say that (even though it's blatantly obvious) because everyone else seems to put that in... So yeah, please have a read! and please be patient for updates, I have exams and stuff i need to revise for and stuff... :)**

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><p>A girl of average height stood in the bathroom of the dormitory, staring blankly at her reflection, studying every inch of herself with her large mahogany eyes. She felt repulsed at the way she looked, and couldn't bring herself to understand what had come over her to make her agree to accompany her beautiful, bubbly best friend to the Lurinemas dance tonight. It was in the Ozdust Ballroom too, so naturally every student of Shiz University would be attending for they all seemed to enjoy the feeling of majesty and splendour that the room supplied to them, and she was laying herself open to humiliation and ridicule from everyone. With one, long, exasperated sigh and a roll of her eyes, the girl padded elegantly across the tiled floor with her bare feet and walked back into the warm bedroom.<p>

Elphaba caught herself in one of Glinda's many mirrors, and her heart sank. Her skin looked especially green in the warm lamplight.

"Oh _there _you are, Elphie!" cried the blonde girl as she practically skipped across the room in her newly purchased dress. In her haste, she stumbled over a misplaced shoe and fell right into her green friend. She quickly stood back up straight, regaining her balance and she smoothed out the skirt of her dress. Her cheeks had flushed slightly at her accident, but this wasn't particularly noticeable due to the fact that she had blusher on. Regaining composure she sighed, "_Honestly_, I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost! Now I've only got about twenty minutes to do your hair and make-up... And help you choose a dress!"

Elphaba frowned, "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

Glinda sighed, and plucked at the black material of Elphaba's dress, "It's just, so... Dark. I mean, c'mon Elphie it's a _party_! No-one's going to want to dance with you if you look like you've just got back from a funeral!"

Elphaba snorted, indignantly, "No-one's going to want to dance with me, anyway- I mean, I'm the artichoke, remember? And secondly, have you not noticed my skin? It's green- practically phosphorescent! I'll clash with anything and everything else!" her tone had gotten increasingly tense and agitated, and she flopped onto her bed in frustration, "I honestly think it would be better for everyone if I stayed here."

Glinda's saphire eyes scanned her green friend wearily, she desperately wanted her to come to the dance and get her head out of the many books she read, but on the other hand she was all too aware of Elphaba's temper and she didn't want to lose a limb in dragging her to the Ozdust Ballroom. Glinda simply sat down beside her on the bed , and began tracing the shapes and patterns of the quilt, "Please, Elphie? Come along, I promise I won't let anyone be meanified or nasty towards you," she whispered innocently, her eyes wide and innocent.

Elphaba may have a short temper, and true Glinda sometimes tested her patience, but she couldn't say no when she saw how much her going to the dance meant to her friend. Sitting up slowly, the green girl adjusted her glasses and nodded once. She still frowned slightly, she didn't want or _need_ her fluffy pink friend to stand up for her, she had many years of practice and was perfectly capable of looking after herself.

A noise that could only be described as a delighted squeal escaped Glinda's shiny pink lips, and she clapped her hands merrily. Dancing around the room to Elphaba's wardrobe, she flung back the doors and flicked through the rail, humming a happy tune.

"Now I've seen this, you _cannot_ deny that you desperately need my expert shopping skills," she trilled, "Honestly, do you own _anything _colourful?"

"No," Elphaba replied honestly.

Suddenly a black velvet dress was flying through the air towards the green girl, she caught it in her hands and stared down at it, feeling the soft material with her long, green, spindly fingers. "This?"

"Yep, now go change and be quick."

There was a knock at the door just as Glinda finished her friends makeover, she peered at Elphaba for a moment, squinting and tilting her head slightly to one side, suddenly inspiration seemed to hit the blonde beauty and she ran across the room to her jewellery box, shouting "One moment!" as the visitor knocked again. She found what she was looking for almost instantly, and Elphaba groaned when she saw her friend dashing back, giggling excitedly with something pink in her hand.

Glinda slipped the pink flower clip into her friends raven black hair with ease, and it added a splash of colour to her outfit and made her seem more friendly and also feminine.

"_SEE_! Green _does_ go well with pink!" she cried happily, and held up a mirror to her best friends face.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow. She wasn't too sure whether she liked what she saw looking back at her or not. She couldn't seem to bring any words to her mouth to speak. Luckily Glinda took this as a good thing and simply sang, "Your welcome" and she rushed to the door to let in the visitor.


	2. sparks fly

"Hi," Fiyero greeted them cheerfully as he walked into the girls' room.

Elphaba slowly got to her feet and looked at him, "Hi."

Fiyero couldn't help but gasp. He stared at Elphaba with wide brown eyes as if he was seeing her in a new light for the first time: Her clear green skin seemed to have a radiance to it that he wasn't sure was there before, and her big brown eyes were beautiful and deep, her long eyelashes seemed to frame them, giving her an angelic, almost innocent look about her, her nose was cute and her lips seemed full and beautiful especially with the red lipstick on them. For a moment Fiyero felt a strong urge and need to kiss her! His eyes then examined the rest of her body, and he was in awe as he saw her wearing the back velvet dress, it wasn't overly revealing, with a slight V-neck line, and there were lace sleeves that elegantly flowed down to her wrists. The soft fabric clung to her body, revealing her gorgeous thin figure, with small slight curves in the right places, and it stopped just at her knee, revealing her long slender legs.

Elphaba seemed to notice his eyes boring into her, and she tried to tug the hem of her dress down in an effort to make it longer, he saw her cheeks flush a slight pink colour and her eyes looked desperately at the floor as if she wanted nothing more than it to swallow her up, which Fiyero found extremely cute and attractive and also rather surprising, as he was so used to seeing the tough hard outside of Elphaba, that he had begun to wonder if the girl possessed any emotion at all! Now he was watching the green girl look modest and embarrassed, it made him want her even more than he had done a few minutes ago. It also made him speculate why it was that she was so hard on the outside, he knew she was probably toughened up by the years of prejudice and bullying she had to endure mainly because of her skin, but other than that he knew nothing much else about her! She never seemed to speak or want to speak about home life and family, and she was often bossed about by her younger sister Nessarose who was wheelchair bound. That was the only other side to her he had seen, the way she was with her sister. She hated being told what to do by people, and she wasn't afraid to tell them so! But with Nessarose she was different, and simply obeyed to every spoilt demand, no matter how unfair. This made Fiyero think, and he desperately wanted to know more about this green girl. Tonight seemed the perfect chance. He smiled a small grin to himself.

She looked up, and Fiyero was still standing there, staring at her. Did she really look that bad? She wondered for a moment, and began to hastily stoke and comb her long, silky, raven black her with her fingers, and then adjusting her dress- trying to fix whatever was causing Fiyero to look at her in the way he did.

Part of her wanted more than anything for him to stop, and look away or at least be looking in this way at Glinda, who was so breathtakingly gorgeous in her pink sequin dress and matching high heels, and her golden curls bounced and shone in the light when she moved, her eyes big, blue and alluring, with perfect, well practised make-up. She was so used to people looking at her as the "freak" that she didn't know how to comprehend that someone may actually _like _her, but then another side of Elphaba was melting in pure delight, and she felt the warm sensation inside her tummy that made her feel giddy. She wanted to run up into his arms and kiss him passionately, hug him and be held in his strong muscular arms as if he would never let her go, he looked so stunning in his smart, clean shirt and trousers, and polished shoes. His hair looked perfect (as always) and the lamplight made his eyes glitter and his olive skin seem to glow. His dazzling smile which made a dimple appear in his right cheek made Elphaba want to scream and cry with unbearable lusting.

Their eyes met, and an invisible spark seemed to begin to flicker between them.


	3. arguements

It was an overexcited Glinda that broke the uneasy silence of the room, "So, are you both ready to go and dancify?" she sang, clapping her hands and wriggling her hips in excited anticipation.

Fiyero nodded, and Elphaba simply rolled her eyes as they followed her out of the dormitory.

Glinda hooked herself onto Elphaba's arm and hummed merrily as they made their way to the Ozdust Ballroom, despite the brisk winter breeze in the air she didn't seem bothered as she skipped along in her short, girly dress.

Elphaba sighed, and rolled her eyes, making it clear that she was attending the dance against her will.

Fiyero walked a couple of paces behind the girls, kind of enjoying the way that Elphaba's long black, silky hair caught in the wind and fanned out, and the skirt of her dress swayed gracefully with every step.

Once in the Ballroom, the trio were sipping punch and chatting. Glinda turned to her green friend and asked curiously, "What's in this punch?" she examined the contents of her cup carefully, sniffing it and swirling it round clumsily, punch began to slosh over the top of the cup and splash onto the posh wooden floor. She found it had a peculiar taste but of which she rather enjoyed.

"Lemons and melons and pears, I think..." Elphaba said, watching Glinda in a mixture of amusement, embarrassment and curiosity.

"OH MY!" the bubbly blonde exclaimed, suddenly.

Elphaba started to chuckle quietly at her friend, taking a small sip from her own cup. Fiyero was taken aback, he didn't think that he had ever heard the girl laugh before, and he found it beautiful. A smile crept onto his own face, as he asked, "Dance?"

Glinda squealed and immediately grabbed the boys arm, dragging him away in the direction of the dancefloor.

Elphaba shook her head sternly as she addressed the pairs looks, "I don't dance."

They both looked disappointed, but didn't press the matter- though Fiyero kept looking back at her, uncomfortable in the fact that he and Glinda had left her alone.

Elphaba stood alone, and swayed slowly and almost unnoticeably to the music, quite content. There were a few looks being thrown her way by people, but this wans't new, and Elphaba new how to block them out. After a while though she seemed to get a bit bored, and began to search the room for her friends.

Nessarose suddenly appeared in the doorway, and wheeled herself into the dimly lit room. She looked pretty (as always) in a navy dress with puff sleeves and an embroidered flower design on the skirt, her brown hair fell in smooth, gentle waves past her shoulders. However, she wasn't smiling, she didn't look happy at all. She had a kind of grimace on her face that was both intimidating and upsetting.

Elphaba left the table and approached her sister, "Hey, Nessa," she greeted gently with a rare smile.

Her sister stared up at her, a look of deep disgust and dislike in her eyes, "What?"

Taken aback, but not wanting to show her anger at the rudeness of her sister's greeting she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Like you don't know, Elphaba Thropp! You knew I didn't have a date or anyone to take me here tonight and you _left_ without me!" Nessarose spat.

Elphaba was shocked, she had no idea that Nessa was even _coming_ to the dance, let alone with or without a date, "Nessa, I-"

"Oh shut-up, Elphaba. I don't want to hear it, you're nothing but a hideous green disgrace anyway. I don't think I'd _want_ to show up with you, it's just because I had no-one else!"

Elphaba was frozen to the spot, she could feel her cheeks flushing, and she wanted nothing more than to fight back- but her sisterly compassion wouldn't let her. Instead she found that she was more hurt than angered by her sisters insults, and she was afraid that her eyes would well up. She simply nodded curtly once, and turned to walk away from the situation, before things spiralled out of hand.

"That's it, walk away... Leave me alone, _again_. Do you know what? You're _wicked_, Elphaba. You're a wicked, wicked... _Witch_!" Nessarose screeched.

Elphaba felt a gut wrenching feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her sister hated her, she knew it! After all she had done for her, she still wasn't good enough! Ultimate rejection and hatred filled Elphaba's body like a poison, and she felt a way she had never felt before. Anger and disappointment bubbled up inside and she felt herself begin to lose control.

Nessarose's smug face faded into a look of embarrassment and fear, as she saw what was happening.


	4. lose control

Elphaba couldn't help or control what happened next. The bulbs of the soft blue lights that were lighting the room, exploded and a green fire began to rage in her eyes. She was furious, because not only were people now looking at her in disgust and fear, she had once again failed to control her magic. This anger made things worse, and the glass chandelier fell from the majestic ceiling, and shattered everywhere, causing all dancers to flee from the dancefloor. Lots even evacuated the building, altogether. Tables began to upturn themselves and drinks and food flew all over the place.

Elphaba sank to her knees and buried her head in her hands in shame, she took deep breaths to compose herself, and hold back the tears that threatened to fall.

She felt someone crouch at her side, and place a shaky hand on her shoulder, "Elphie?" Glinda asked gently.

Elphaba looked up and her best friend was by her side, a look of genuine concern in her worried blue eyes. Fiyero also stood by, looking just as worried and nervous, which confused Elphaba as she was certain that he would have run off in fear of being accused of befriending the "Artichoke". The green girl felt terrible, and she rose to her feet, looking for her sister.

The room was silent, and there must have been about sixty pairs of eyes on the girl, she ignored this and looked round to catch a glimpse of Nessa. There she was, surrounded by a group of people who she assumed were her friends. She rushed over to her, Glinda and Fiyero close behind, ready to pull her away.

"Nessa, I... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean this to happen... I don't understand how, but-"

"Get away." Nessarose cut her off, her voice was sharp and stern her voice laced with venom. She didn't even look up to see the distress in her elder sisters eyes.

"But-" She started desperately, trying to grab at her sister's chair to stop her wheeling away. Her hand was rudely smacked away by a slightly chubby red-headed girl with freckles in a daffodil yellow dress with matching patent shoes. The girl was considerably shorter than Elphaba, but looked her in the eyes and shouted: "Didn't you hear? She said get away! She was right, you _are _a freak, I would be _ashamed_ to have anything to do with you! Now _GET AWAY, YOU COLD-BLOODED, EVIL, WICKED WITCH_!"

Fiyero's hand curled into a fist, and he wanted nothing more than for the redhead and Nessarose to apologise to Elphaba for saying such mean things.

Glinda's mouth gaped open in shock, and looked to Elphie and then around the room.

"What? What're you all looking at, go on!" She cried, secretly amazed at her bravery to address the fifty or so nosy onlookers.

She was distracted when the girl who insulted Elphaba seemed to rise into the air, her arms and legs flailing desperately to touch back to the ground. Their face turned pale and her grey eyes went wide with fear and she let out a meek scream, afraid of what was happening, her red curls was billowing like she was caught in a vicious gale, though there wasn't a breeze in the room.

"Elphie? Elphaba? Elphaba, listen to me- stop this!" Glinda screamed, looking desperately into her friends contorted face.

Elphaba had tears streaking down her face, and her skin seemed to glow greener than Glinda had ever seen it, her eyes suddenly opened and Glinda gasped to see that they had lost their brown colouring and had turned into a deep shade of Jade, her hands shook and her body was tense. Glinda had never seen anything like this, she knew that Elphaba sometimes struggled to control her magic, but she had never witnessed things like this! Most simple spells drained Glinda of her seemingly endless supply of energy, and so she was surprised to see that her friend was still standing and hadn't passed out after all the magic she had just caused!

"Elphie!" Fiyero cried, grabbing onto her shoulder and spinning her round to face him.

Elphaba looked directly at him, her eyes reverted back to their deep chocolate brown. She looked utterly confused and bewildered eyes wide and eyebrows frowned slightly, and with a quick sweep of the room she seemed to recollect what had just happened and before Glinda and Fiyero knew it, she had fled from the room and out of the building.


	5. the aftermath

"Elphie? Elphie, wait for me!" Glinda cried desperately as she dashed out of the Ozdust Ballroom in hot pursuit of her friend. Fiyero followed close behind.

They followed the sound of the running footsteps they presumed were Elphaba's and ended up down a dark alleyway.

Glinda turned to Fiyero, and shifted uncomfortably from one high-heeled foot to the other, she opened her mouth to talk a few times before she managed to get the words past her pink lips, "Um... Fiyero, maybe it's best that I see to Elphie alone. I- I mean, she might be more reasonable and she might even open up to me..." She knew these were weak arguments, but she was unsure of what state she would find her friend and thought that it would be easier to talk to her if she was alone. She was also afraid that Elphie would get her guard up and shout at them for following her, or perform some more accidental magic and Glinda could handle this and would be able to realise that she didn't mean any of it but she wasn't too sure about Fiyero. The two had only just started to get along, and she didn't want him running off or turning against her for her behaviour.

Fiyero frowned at the suggestion, "No, I want to see if she's ok! What was said back there was out of order and-"

He stopped when he looked into the blonde Gillikin's blue eyes. They were large, round, sapphire orbs. Big and pleading and full of tears. He could see that she was desperate to see Elphie, and wasn't in the mood for arguing so he fought the urge to voice his disagreement and simply said, "Fine. Just, let me know if she's ok as soon as you get back to Shiz... I'll be in my room if you need me." He wanted more than anything to go with Glinda and comfort Elphaba, but he squeezed Glinda's shoulders encouragingly, gave a weak smile and reluctantly turned on his heel and walked silently back towards the university.

Elphaba sat with her back against the grimy brick wall, her knees drew up to her chin and her face hidden. She felt so ashamed that she had let herself lose control of her magic _again_. And infront of most of Shiz, too. Then there was also the fact that Nessarose probably hated her for showing her up, and so without a doubt her father would soon receive a letter explaining the whole fiasco therefore resulting in a massive argument when Elphaba was forced to return home in two weeks for Lurinemas... Images of Nessarose's face burned into her mind, and all she could see was the look of shame, anger, disappointment and disgust.

Elphaba could do nothing to stop the tears that threatened to fall from escaping. They raced down her face in a seemingly endless stream and she cried silently for a few minutes, completely unsure of where to go from here or what she would do next. She was so absorbed in her despair that she failed to register the gentle sound of high-heeled footsteps approaching, and even as someone sat beside her. It wasn't until a cool, gentle hand was placed on her shoulder, pulling her into a warm comforting hug that she took notice of who was consoling her.

"Oh Elphie..." Glinda started quietly, she had always been used to seeing her green friend be strong and fierce and so seeing her broken with sore, red, suffering, eyes, wet cheeks with mascara streaks and even a quivering bottom lip was heart-breaking, and Glinda had to take a minute to compose herself and make sure that she, too, wasn't about to start sobbing- she wanted to seem strong for her best friends sake. "It's ok," she soothed, stroking Elphaba's raven black waves as she sobbed into her shoulder.

Elphaba suddenly drew away sharply, and stared into Glinda's eyes with a look of disbelief, frustration and confusion, "Just _how _is everything ok, Glinda? In what way is everything going to be _ok_?" She raised her shaking slender hands to her head and tugged at her hair, "Don't you see? I've ruined _everything_! Nessa, making friends, controlling my magic... All of it! I've managed to ruin everything _yet again_!"

Elphaba was reaching hysteria and Glinda blinked blankly at her friend as she began to tear strands of beautiful long hair from her head, her face crumpled as she tried to fight back the tears that once again filled her deep brown eyes. Glinda didn't know what to do. She had expected Elphie to be mad at herself and maybe shout a bit, but she really hadn't thought that she would have a pretty major breakdown. Glinda reached the conclusion that these emotions had been bubbling away inside her for a while, consuming her like a poison and tonight's events had tipped her over the edge.

Cautiously she approached her green friend, and grabbed her head so that Elphie had no choice but to look at her, "Look, Elphie. I don't know what happened tonight, and by the look on your face after you did what you did neither do you, but that girl was out of order, and had no right to say those things so as far as I'm concerned, you did nothing _that_ wrong- and I'm positively certain that Fiyero agrees."

"You mean, you don't hate me?"

Glinda shook her head, almost hurt that Elphaba could even think that she would hate her.

"And Fiyero? Are you sure he agrees? I mean, does he even _like_ me?"

Glinda had to admit that she was kind of taken aback by Elphaba's obvious concern about how Fiyero thought about her, as she never really seemed to care about people's opinions on her but she took it as a part of her being insecure in this apparent breakdown. She shook her head again, "He was so worried about you, Elphie. He wants to know if you're ok as soon as we get back to Shiz."

This seemed to strike a new worry in Elphaba's mind, "Shiz! Oh my Oz, what if they expel me? Where will I go? Oh, Glinda- what would I do?" She gabbled desperately.

"What? Why in Oz would they expel you? You're, like, top student!"

"The damage to the ballroom... And what happened with _that girl_," she muttered simply, but she said "That girl" with such venom and ice that it scared Glinda.

"Oh, well, I'm sure we can sort the Ozdust ballroom out- and people get into fights all the time, so I don't really see how this could be that different just because there was magic involved..."

Elphaba seemed to relax slightly at her friends reasonable answer and calm, soothing tone, and she looked sincere as she stared into Glinda's blue eyes, "Thank you. I am so sorry..."

"Don't be silly, Elphie! And I'm your bestified friend, that's what I'm here for!" Glinda beamed and her eyes once again glittered, seeing her friend even improve slightly was enough to return her to her usual peppy self, and to think that she helped was all the more reason for her to feel happy. "Come on, let's get out of here, and back to our room. Did I tell you that mumsie sent me a special pack of hot chocolate? Best in the Gillikin, apparently, how about we have some?" she linked her arm into Elphaba's and firmly led her out of the dark alley, knowing that the dark damp surroundings probably weren't helping her mood.

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><p>It seemed that even tough, green-skinned girls were won over by the magic of hot chocolate, as after a couple of mugs of the stuff made by ever clumsy Miss. Glinda, Elphaba was chuckling fondly as she stared round the room, taking in the new chocolate scented splatter on the wall from where her friend had been making her way across the room with a mug full to the brim of fresh Gillikin hot chocolate and marshmallows when she tripped (once again) sending the contents flying acoss the room and into the wall. The pair had tried their best to remove the stain, but a faint brown splatter mark and a subtle scent of comforting rich chocolate still remained.<p>

Glinda had also tried to practice her sorcery skills by transforming one of her puffy pink dresses (not her favourite) into a bird. All that remained of the taffeta now was a pile of pink fluffy feathers that occasionally fluttered round the room of their own accord. Secretly, Glinda knew that she would fail and just hoped that the attempt would be enough to return a smirk to Elphaba's green face. It had, and Glinda couldn't help but cheer up, despite the fact that the magic had tired her and she was yet to tell Fiyero of Elphaba's mood. She decided to wait until Elphaba had fallen asleep before she crept out of the dormitory to post a note through Fiyero's door. She hated the thought of going behind her best friends back, but she also knew that the last thing Elphaba wanted was for people to worry about her, so she thought it best that she waited until she was asleep to avoid any arguments. She was determined to keep her friends spirit's high, as she feared that the story would have spread around the school by tomorrow's first lesson.

Luckily, all the emotions of the day seemed to tire Elphaba, and before long she had drifted off to sleep with a small smile etched on her face.

Not wanting to waste time, Glinda tore a page from her pink notebook and scribbled quickly with her pink pen:

_Fiyero,_

_Sorry it has taken so long to write this, but I was waiting for Elphie to fall asleep, she probably wouldn't let me write this othrewise, she doesn't really like people making a fuss... Elphie was far from ok earlier, but I think I managed to cheerify her up with some Gillikin hot chocolate (yum) and some stuff like that._

_I'm scared about the story of tonight getting out by tomorrow, and I hope that you will help me defendify Elphie if she needs it._

_Love,_

_Glinda xxxx_

She had decided it best not to include too many details of Elphaba's breakdown, as she didn't want Elphie to find out that he knew as she would kill her, and also she thought it would make Fiyero either feel bad for not coming along after all, or smug that he had been right in saying that he should've come along and the last thing she wanted was him to be in her face telling her "I told you so!"

She quietly made her way out of the door in her fluffy pink slippers, and did a delicate half-run across campus to Fiyero's room. The grass was wet from a small downpour from earlier, and she realised that her slippers were probably ruined beyond repair, but she decided not to care. They were only slippers and she could always use it as an excuse to go shopping.

When she reached her friend's door, she hesitated, not sure how to go about posting the letter. Luckily she could see light under the door, and hoped it meant that Fiyero was up despite the late hour. Eventually she slipped the note under the door and waited patiently.

She could hear something that sounded like footsteps approach the door where she had posted the letter, and she waited with baited breath as she waited for Fiyero to make a sign that he was at least reading the letter.

She must have been waiting for a short while before she saw a scruffily folded piece of paper that looked like it had been hastily torn from a notebook slip under the door. Wondering why he didn't just open the door and talk to her, she didn't know but she read the letter all the same, it took her a bit longer than it normally would due to the dim lighting of the candles in the corridor, and because Fiyero's writing was nearing illegible:

_Glinda,_

_I've been up all night waiting to hear from you, and you give me that scrap of information? What do you mean, "far from ok"? but I suppose its ok, if its better now..._

_Do you even need to ask that, Glinda? Seriously? Of course I'll defend Elphaba! Hopefully everyone was too scared to spread anything incase she did any magic on them?_

_See you tomorrow (… well, in a few hours.)_

_Fiyero _

Glinda couldn't help but feel slightly huffy at the response she got. She had just cheered up Elphaba all by herself, and that's a tricky job anyway nevermind if she's just hit rock bottom. She really hoped that Fiyero wasn't mad at her, and she absent-mindedly began to chew one of her long manicured nails as she slowly made her way back to her room. Fiyero hadn't seemed to happy in his response, there were quite a few question marks which made him seem a bit demanding and also a little bit rude and there weren't any kisses at the end like she had put... Still, she did feel slightly bad for her friend as he had waited up all night to get a response that she had promised to give as soon as they arrived back at Shiz.

Angry, worried thoughts swirled Glinda's normally blissfully blank mind as she climbed the stairs to her room and slowly opened the door. She quickly looked over to Elphaba's bed, suddenly panicking that she had woken up and realised that Glinda had gone. But Elphaba lay still and silent, her hair partially covering her face like a silky black mask, her quilt slowly rising up and down- the only sign to show that she was peacefully sleeping and not infact, dead.

She tiptoed slowly and cautiously across the room, trying to avoid any floorboards that might be tempted to creak and groan as she applied her weight, she was especially careful as to not trip over any stray objects, as she was aware that she often did so.

Eventually she was snuggled under her thick, pink quilt, and she seemed to stroke and trace the silky quilted diamonds for an unusually long time before drifting off to sleep.


	6. the morning after

Elphaba was already awake and dressed by the time Glinda returned to reality from her dreams. She had had an uneasy night's sleep, full of weird dreams and sudden starts so was not feeling fresh and alert like she would on a regular day.

On any other day, Glinda would've leapt from her soft, luxury mattress in a panic and rushed over to her mirror, inspecting her face critically, explaining the importance of beauty sleep, but today she looked at her green-skinned friend with worried blue eyes- she wasn't sure about what kind of mood she was in, or how she was feeling about the previous nights events.

Elphaba had braided her raven tresses into a long neat plait that elegantly flowed half-way the back of her navy dress, and she was so absorbed in her heavy book that she failed to notice that her oval glasses were slowly sliding down her nose. Her large chocolate eyes stared intently at the pages of small cramped text before them,

_no wonder she needs glasses, squinting at writing like that for hours on end! _Glinda thought to herself, with a fond smile.

Elphaba was sitting on top of her duvet, back leaning against her pillow that she had propped upright against the mahogany headboard, her long, slender legs crossed demurely. She looked so angelic, and Glinda couldn't help but feel a tug at her heart when she compared her Elphie's innocent form to the image the rest of the school created from the vicious lies and rumours that had speculated around Shiz about her since the day she arrived. They couldn't be any further from the truth.

Elphaba began to grow conscious of the fact that her blonde room mate was staring at her. It made her uncomfortable. Squirming slightly under her friends intense gaze, she carefully folded the page of her book with a long emerald finger, and placed it gently on the small table beside her bed. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, returning them to their rightful place and looked at Glinda. She meant to snap something along the lines of: "What are you staring at?" but instead she asked, "Glin? Are you ok?" All sarcasm and annoyance was drained away, like water down a plug when she drank in the sight of her friend. Glinda did not look herself:

Her hair was normally shiny and radiantly blonde, full of perfect bouncing curls, but today her hair was a dull gold, if golden at all and the curls had unfurled into meek waves that hung loose and lank around her shoulders. Her eyes were normally glittering with excitement and anticipation, a dazzling shade of sapphire blue, but now they had no apparent sparkle, and the life in them seemed to have died down. Glinda never frowned, she claimed they would cause premature wrinkles, and was constantly lecturing Elphaba about frowning so much, yet there she sat with a worried crease in her forehead, eyebrows raised and knitted together chewing her lips. Elphaba couldn't help but notice that her perfectly manicured nails had been bitten down to the skin, so there was not any sign at all of the neat white tip that had been there the day before or even at all!

Elphaba got up from her bed and gently sat next to Glinda on her pink bed spread, when she didn't answer, "Glin?"

"Oh, yes, sorry Elphie! Bad nights sleep you know? Don't worry about me, I'm fine- How are you?" Glinda beamed at her friend, with a smile she hope resembled the normal perky one she had plastered on her face 99% of the time. Elphie would kill her if she knew how worried she was about her, she knew that she didn't like to be seen as "hopeless" or looked at in pity, so she prayed that she brought her smile.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow, sceptically. She made it clear she didn't believe Glinda but decided not to press the matter in the hope that Glinda would drop any questions about the Lurinemas Ball. "Me? I'm fine, I'm always fine," she said hastily.

Glinda opened her mouth to speak, but Elphaba cut her off, "Glin, go get ready. We have class in half an hour and if you don't mind me saying so: you look a mess."

The blonde squeaked in alarm and practically sprinted to the bathroom grabbing a fuchsia dress from her wardrobe as she passed, squealing something about "only half an hour?" in a voice that was to high-pitched to understand properly.

Once the door was slammed shut and the shower could be heard running, Elphaba let out a sigh. What she wouldn't do to stay hiding in her room. The school would be buzzing with tales of the night in the Ozdust ballroom, some true, but Elphaba expected that many would be exaggerated and twisted versions far from reality. People would be pointing, staring and laughing all over again just like they did when she first arrived.

The green woman hid her face in her hands and wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow her whole. It was going to be a long day.


End file.
